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General Discussion

Posted by Nick Yates
Nick Yates
8,621 Points

Is it even possible?

Hi, my name is Nick Yates, I'm 18 year old ill be 19 in may, now I've been coding for about a month now, I've got a basic understanding of coding from my html class I took at college, but now I'm taking all the HTML and CSS classes, all the webdesign courses here as well for a review and better understanding, over the next three months I plan on taking every course and track I possibly can to learn as much as I can. My question is, I want to be able to grab a Full Time Programming Job by December of this year, now all the job apps I've seen in my area which is (Phoenix, Arizona) about 95% of the applications and job offers I've seen have required a degree which I don't have. I decided to stop going because the structure of college wasn't to my liking and too stressful and over just wasn't for me, I found tree house to be much easier to learn and better for a good life balance. And it saves me a lot of frustration and money. So I guess my question is it even possible at my young age? and minimal experience with all these jobs requiring a degree to get a Full Time Programming job? Please let me know. Cause right now seeing all these college degree requirements is a little disheartening and dis-encouraging when trying out a program like tree house.

4 Answers

Bryce Santos
Bryce Santos
11,157 Points
Bryce Santos
Bryce Santos
11,157 Points

Most jobs in that particular area almost always "require" a degree. The best way to "wow" an interviewer when you don't have a degree is to show your work portfolio. Think about it like this... even if you've never done "official work", if you've done work at all, that counts as work. Try creating a fake website. Even though it's fake, you created it, and that's another piece for your portfolio. In my opinion, it's not about the degree, but a portfolio that shows you have knowledge that you can do the job.

Nick Yates
Nick Yates
8,621 Points

But most companies won't even look at my application if I don't meet that degree requirement right?

Chyno Deluxe
Chyno Deluxe
16,936 Points

I agree with Bryce! While most companies require a degree of some kind, does not mean you shouldn't apply. In my personal experience, I've applied to jobs without a degree and only a couple projects to present without having any problems landing interviews.

A solid portfolio will always make a resume stand out, with or without a degree.

Bryce Santos
Bryce Santos
11,157 Points
Bryce Santos
Bryce Santos
11,157 Points

Nope, they really only care about that portfolio.

Jeroen Pets
Jeroen Pets
8,016 Points
Jeroen Pets
Jeroen Pets
8,016 Points

Hi Nick, i am partner of a small UX - Webdev Company, our team is around 10 people strong.

Recently i've added a new colleague to team without a degree.

The criteria I look for: Potential, skills, eager to learn, drive/motivation, soft skills. You can easily improve your potential and skills by learning (yeah we got a treehouse team account for all the colleagues to constantly learn new stuff at their own pace) and training (doing exercises).

So get a "strong" portfolio, see what others do, try to replicate that first to get a "high" standard. And try to improve yourself, goodluck!